“Alright. Edward and Elliott are interested in the property. I’m not interested in taking over something that I know nothing about.”
My brother mumbled, “That never stopped you before.”
I didn’t even turn my head to acknowledge Elliott. “Anyway. It’s my understanding that this deal has to be a cash deal, rather than a mortgage. Which means the financing would be a business line of credit—which, in turn, means my interest in Vanderhaus Holdings is on the hook for this venture, as well. So I’d like to understand why the property can’t be mortgaged.”
The two men looked at each other and then to Elliott. It was my brother who answered my question. “There are a few investor-owners who prefer a discreet transaction. They’re not listed on the legal documents as owners. And then there’s a small issue with the IRS for one of the listed investors.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How small?”
One of the two selling investors responded. “The transaction needs to be cash, or the funds are going to be confiscated by the government because of a tax judgment. Don’t worry…the Costa Rica property itself doesn’t have any liens. Just one of our investors.”
Did my brother ever get involved in anything that wasn’t shady as shit?
I kept quiet after that. My decision had been made. I’m all for stretching the truth on my business mileage and office expenses when it came to my taxes, but I wasn’t about to get involved with any major cash transactions that were structured to avoid someone paying taxes on their IRS lien, and God knows the reason the other investors needed a discreet transaction.
Our meeting ended, and the two hotel owners said goodbye. Robert, our banker, stuck around to chat with Edward, leaving me with my jackass brother. Robert had put some forms in the middle of
the table that we would all need to sign to increase our line of credit with the bank by millions of dollars.
Elliott slipped a pen from inside his jacket pocket and flung it across the table at me. “Why don’t you sign now, so you can be on your merry way?”
“I’m not signing this thing.” I slid the pen that had landed in front of me to the middle of the table.
“I may not know too much about business, but I know a shady deal when I see one. This is exactly the type of thing that Grandfather wouldn’t go near with a ten-foot pole.”
My brother’s face contorted. “Stop being so naïve, and just sign the fucking thing. It’s a good investment. You’ll never have to pay a dime out of pocket toward the loan payments. Profits will cover everything.”
“I don’t think it’s a wise decision to put all of the other Vanderhaus businesses at risk for a single hotel in Costa Rica. First, you don’t know anything about running a hotel. And, second, there’s something shady about the deal. The owners just flat out told you that they need cash because they are trying to avoid paying a tax lien. Think they’re going to be any more honest with you than the government?”
Elliott stood. His chair tumbled over from the way he whipped from the table so fast. He raised his voice. “It’s not bad enough we have to share profits with you, now you’re interfering with us making them. You should appreciate that you even get anything from us.”
“I think you’re forgetting that I don’t get anything from you. Our grandfather left me the shares in his company. If you weren’t so spoiled and entitled, you’d see there is a difference.”
“You’re just being vindictive. Isn’t it about time that you accept that your family will always take sloppy seconds from the Vanderhaus men?”
I stood. “Fuck you.”
Elliott fiddled with his expensive watch. “Your little trashy girlfriend wasn’t even that good of a lay anyway.”
My blood started to pump. I had to have misheard him. “What the hell did you just say?”
“I didn’t even remember that I’d tapped that until she reminded me at my party.” He shook his head. “Forgettable.”
I slammed both fists on the table and leaned across it toward my brother. “What the fuck are you talking about, asshole?”
Elliott looked back and forth between my rage-filled eyes. An evil sneer that gave me chills spread across his face. He tilted his head. “She didn’t tell you, did she?”
“Tell me what?”
It was one thing for him to insult my business acumen and me personally, but I’d be damned if this asshole was going to say shit about Gia. I was barely able to contain myself.
He tsked. “It must be a Rushmore genetic trait. First your mother tried to take what my mother already had. And now you’re banging one of my leftovers.”
I jumped onto and over the table faster than Elliott could even move. The smirk still didn’t fall from his face when I pushed him up against the wall and pressed my forearm to his throat. Edward and Robert tried to rip me off of him, but I didn’t budge.
“Don’t you even say Gia’s name. She wouldn’t give you the time of day.”
The asshole started to turn red, yet somehow he managed to speak. “She gave me the time of day alright. Twice that night, if I remember correctly. I really liked the cute little heart-shaped mole on her ass when I had her on all fours.”
I suddenly felt like I was the one being choked. My grip loosened a little, not because I wanted to let him breathe, but because I couldn’t breathe now. Elliott was able to take advantage of my shock and pushed my arm from his throat.
He coughed while I stood there frozen. There was no fucking way Gia had slept with my brother.
She’d never do that to me. There had to be another way he knew about the heart-shaped mole.
Edward put his arm around his son and scowled at me. “You’re really an animal.” He looked to Elliott. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” His voice was hoarse from almost having his windpipe crushed. He looked at me and gave one last vicious smile. “Tell your girlfriend that Harlan said hello.”
No fucking answer. Again.
I tossed my cell onto the wooden bar and waved down the bartender.
“Another Vodka and 7.”
“Bad day at work?” he asked while making me a third drink.
“You could say that.”
“What do you do?”
“I have some businesses with my estranged family.”
The guy chuckled and slid my drink across the bar. “This one’s on the house. Couldn’t pay me to work with my family.”
I should’ve driven home after leaving the office. But instead, I found the nearest dive bar and parked myself on a stool. Now it was four o’clock in the afternoon, and I was halfway loaded and more than a hundred-plus miles from Gia, who wasn’t picking up the fucking phone.
I downed half my drink in one gulp. Cheap vodka. Tomorrow I’d pay for it.
A million fucking scenarios had played through my head over the last hour. Maybe he was full of shit—somehow he’d found out that information about Gia and used it to piss me off. Gia could have chatted with Lauren at the party for a little while, and I hadn’t noticed. Maybe she’d mentioned she was pregnant with some guy named Harlan’s baby. And Lauren had told her husband.
It could happen.
Although I had a more difficult time explaining how the fuck he knew about the heart-shaped mole on her ass.
I squeezed the glass in my hand so tight, I thought it might crack. The thought of Elliott knowing firsthand about Gia’s mole made me want to explode.
There were a dozen other scenarios that I came up with. None of them pretty.
Gia must’ve known who I was from the start. She’d slept with my brother and then set her sights on me to get even with Elliott for screwing her over and leaving her pregnant. That just isn’t possible. This was Gia, for Christ’s sake.
Gia and Elliott are still sleeping together.
Gia was a plant by Elliott and Edward to try and distract me.
My mind seemed to be running rampant, and the more I sipped my drink, the wilder the scenarios that I imagined.
The entire thing just needed to be wrong somehow. There was a logical explanation for this. I needed to just calm the fuck down. Once I finally got through to Gia, she’d make sense of it all.